'X-Men' preview shows abilities of new mutants
LAS VEGAS (AP) — In the first few minutes of a new "X-Men: Days of Future Past" clip, some X-Men attempt to battle ruthless metal monsters using their special abilities.
It's the first appearance for some of the mutants — Blink, Sunspot, Warpath and Bishop. A few don't make it out alive.
The clip was unveiled Thursday at CinemaCon in Las Vegas and introduced by Jim Gianopulos, chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox, to theater owners.
The seventh installment of the Marvel franchise, due May 23, brings back two-time "X-Men" director Bryan Singer, as the younger selves of X-Men Professor Charles Xavier (played by James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) join forces with their older selves (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen) to fight species across two time periods.
Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Storm (Halle Berry) and many of the other X-Men also appear.
Among those featured in the "X-Men: Days of Future Past" clip, Ellen Page plays Shadowcat, Shawn Ashmore is Iceman, Bingbing Fan is newbie Blink (she can teleport herself), Adan Canto is Sunspot (he can store and convert solar energy), Booboo Stewart is Warpath (he has superhuman strength and his body can regenerate quickly) and Omar Sy is Bishop (he is able to release absorbed biokinetic energy).
With appearances by Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Shailene Woodley, Fox also previewed "The Other Woman" and "The Fault of Our Stars."
In their new comedy, out in April, Diaz and Mann discover they are in a relationship with the same man. "At some point in your life everybody has been cheated on," Diaz told The Associated Press before taking the stage with Mann to plug the film.
The shown clips didn't sway far from the previously released trailer, which shows the ladies, also including Kate Upton, bonding over their betrayals and plotting revenge on their man.
There to introduce summer release "The Fault of Our Stars," based on John Green's best-selling tear-jerker about two young people (Woodley and her "Divergent" co-star Ansel Elgort) with cancer who fall in love, Woodley said the film "rewrote the way I look at every breath."
The studio also touted the upcoming "Rio 2," with a showgirl-accompanied performance of the film's song "Rio Rio" by rapper B.o.B. and Ester Dean, as well as "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," to release in June.
In the "Apes" footage shown, the advancement of the apes, one of the climactic moments in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," is once again highlighted. One ape yells, "Apes together, strong!"
The material to gain the largest cheers from the audience was one of the studio's 2015 teasers, the Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson-starring "The Secret Service." In it, Firth plays an agent who trains a young man to become part of his team. An early clip showed Firth as a suit-wearing, umbrella-toting, fierce fighting agent — a new, entertaining look for him.
The presentation was capped by "New Girl" stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr., who come down the Colosseum aisles at the Caesars Palace dressed as police officers shouting "Don't worry, we're fake cops" through megaphones to promote their buddy comedy where they play pretend police officers in "Let's Be Cops."
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Associated Press writer Nicole Evatt contributed to this report.
___ Follow AP Film Writer Jessica Herndon on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/SomeKind
